Dec 12 to 15 - hanging out in Dinner Key south of Miami

Fri Dec 12

Spending the month of Dec in Dinner Key on Biscayne Bay

Every morning at 9am we turn on the VHF radio to Channel 69 and listen to The Dinner Key Cruiser's Net.  There is a moderator and we can participate in the conversation.  The net provides info on local events, helps cruisers find tools to borrow and help with boat problems. One day we helped a young live aboard guy fix a flag stuck on his mast. Turns out he had a car, and he took Bob out for a propane tank refill.  Cruisers helping cruisers is a big thing.  Prepping for our visit with Lee and Brit today (grocery run, clean bathroom, vacuum boat, etc) but did squeeze in a bike ride. Also rode the Coconut Grove Circulator bus for 25 cents around town. Lee and Brit arrived late Fri night.  So excited to see them!

Sat Dec 13

Atoll right behind us with Biscayne Bay beyond the Palm trees

With Lee and Brit along on borrowed bikes, we took a 15 mile bike ride to Matthson Hammock Park. We followed a nice bike trail through banyon trees and ended up in a county park with a natural atoll pool.

Banyan roots laced into coral wall - cool!

Next we motored our boat over to Bell Island off Miami Beach.  We dinghied up a canal under car overpasses to a dinghy dock.

L to R - Lee, Bob, Brit, Carol - had to duck at high tide!

Looks a little like Amsterdam...

From there we walked to see a symphony on a "wall cast".  New World Symphony is a school here to prepare students to perform in symphony orchestras. The concert inside was sold out, but they have an outdoor park where they show the concert live on a huge wall  (70 feet high by 100 feet long) complete with a great sound system.  Better than a drive in movie! We listened to Beethovan's Fifth and some other great music while picnicking.

Live Wallcast, complete with close ups, very cool!

Sun Dec 14
Lee and Brit wanted some beach time, so we headed back into Miami Beach and walked down to South Beach.   Brit and I felt a little out of place as we didn't have thong bikinis like most of the other girls. Beautiful day on the beach!

Lee and Brit enjoying South Beach Miami

 


We spent some time sunbathing, then walked up Lincoln Ave for lunch at an outdoor cafe and people watched.  Wow! People really dress up here!  Went for a swim

and then Lee took the helm through Miami and we headed back to our marina in Coconut Grove.

Grilled out and were all asleep by 8:30.

Mon Dec 15
Today was calm and sunny and warm, so we rented a car and headed for Key Largo with cruising friends David and Cherie LaPenta. Took the snorkel boat out of John Pennekamp Park. Enjoyed the reef and fish- lots of barracuda, parrotfish, triggers, rays, and bummer, some Moon jellyfish too.

Lee and Brit enjoying the beautiful day

Another day in paradise

We wore our wetsuits.  Stopped at an outdoor grill, Alabama Jacks, on the way home for some seafood and island music. Then it was time to say goodbye to Lee and Brit. So great to hang out with them for a few days! It went so fast!

Tues Dec 16
We are flying home for the holidays tomorrow, so we spent the day securing the boat and packing up.
Will return to Coconut Grove Dec 29. We are so excited to get home and visit with family and friends!

Arrived Coconut Grove!

Sat Dec 6
We are in Miami!  We have travelled 1,172 miles along the ICW! 7 weeks!

Downtown Miami - Rickenbacker Causeway going into Miami Beach in front. 

Lots of cruise ships as well as loads of mega yachts.

And since its a Sat, the locals are out in full force on their power boats enjoying the day. Some are noisy and fast.

We picked up a mooring ball in Pelican Harbor Marina.  We donned snorkel gear and gave the bottom of our boat a good cleaning.  Then we went to shore and toured the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station. They run a rehab hospital for pelicans.  Apparently pelicans feed on bait fish and can mistake discarded fishing lures with hooks for these. Staff perform surgery and keep the pelicans during recovery.  Many are released, but we noticed they seem to continue to hang around the area!

There was one baby in a large cage of many adult pelicans.  Apparently staff place nesting supplies in the middle of the pen.  The pelicans then play their own version of "Hunger Games" to make nests as others steal for their own. So, its very rare when a baby is born.

Sun Dec 7
Arrived in Crandon Park on Key Biscayne. Water beautiful! We decided to grill out, but we had no steaks. So, we took our first bus ride to the grocery store.  Two hours later, we returned with our steaks! Quite an experience, but we need to learn to do this. We look out over the Miami skyline and the lights at night are a real change from the salt marshes of SC and GA!

Full moon rising over Miami

Mon Dec 8
Decided to stay another night here. We walked to the beach in the morning.  Then we decided to do something foreign- go sailing!  It was a delightful time under full sail with no engine out on Biscayne Bay!

Tues Dec 9
Finally we are here in Coconut Grove!  We have a slip at Dinner Key Marina for 1 month.  It is at the sight of the old Pan Am Clipper Airport/Seaport in the 1930's, where amphibious planes took off to the Caribbean and Latin America. Eventually this area was sold to the city of Miami, who built a marina. We dug out our folding bikes and toured all around Coconut Grove.

Bike folded for storage in lazaretto

Bike extended for riding

There are several fellow boater friends from Rock Hall here, so we all met for a wonderful Happy Hour, of course we all rode our bikes to the pub.

Wed Dec 10
We cleaned the boat, went bike riding, and did laundry.  Carol managed to drop a bike pedal off the dock-uhoh!  She found a diver working in the marina who was nice enough to help us out.  Never a dull moment on a boat - on a good day at least 90% of systems are working.  Now the dinghy motor is not working, so we arranged for a mechanic to look at it.  Our cruising friends are having the same type of fun/work days. Looking forward to Lee and Brit's arrival Friday!

On to Ft Lauderdale

Tues Dec 2
The forecast was for rain, so we decided to stay put in Vero Beach.   We get rain at one time or another every day - the bonus is the rainbows we get to see:

Vero Beach was one of our favorite stops so far.
Every mooring ball gets 2 -3 boats tied up here.

Our dinghy provides us transportation to and from land.
The town has a free bus system that picks you up at the marina and takes you either to town or the beach. We walked to the beach to get some exercise, very upscale here.  Even have a Wilmington Trust in town.  Many cruisers come and stay at Vero for the winter as there are numerous cultural events.  Some people head out for the Bahamas from this base. We enjoyed Happy Hour with our English neighbors, they have been cruising for a long time and been everywhere! Learned lots!

Wed Dec 3
Sunny, but quite windy.  Temp hit 80 degrees for the first time. Weather is a factor in every decision on the water! From sails to planning the day, anchoring… Anchored in Hobe Sound near Jupiter. Clear water, so Carol went swimming and cleaned the waterline and the propeller.

The waterfront here is mega estates, we were told they run 20-40 million! Each "estate" looks more like a country club than a private home. We watched a small spotted eagle ray jump out of the water and follow our boat for a time.  So nice to have clear water.

Thurs Dec 4
Today was warm and breezy. The water is prettier now, lots of mangroves emerging, and plenty of palms. Its fun to look at the waterfront homes as we head down the waterway. In Palm Beach we passed so many megayachts- everywhere! Even docked in front of people's mansions, some with Christmas lights.

With the denser population here in south FL, there are starting to be more drawbridges. People are decorating up for the holidays, even boaters.

We anchored in Lantana lake and listened to live music playing onshore.

Fri Dec 5
This was "bridge day".  We went through 13 draw bridges in 5 hours.
Here are some of our favorites:

Lantana drawbridge

Looks like fairyland...

  More mega waterfront homes.  Hard to decide which one to retire too….

Decided to call it a day at lunch and anchored in Sunrise Cove in Fort Lauderdale. We have now done 1100 miles on our trip so far!

Nov 27- Dec 1 Warmer in Florida!

Fri Nov 27-

A much nicer day, wind from behind, sunny and warmer. We enjoyed seeing eagles today. Dolphins are everywhere now.

Spent the night at Camachee Cove Marina in St Augustine.  The marina offered a free loaner car, so we went into town and explored, then made a grocery run and short walk on the St Augustine beach (you can drive right out on the beach).

Felt weird driving a car instead of a boat

St Augustine beach - very rough at the Inlet

Sat Nov 28-
Carol's college friend, Joanne Gonzalez was in town from California, visiting her sister.  Joanne came out to our marina and had breakfast onboard. Wonderful to catch up!

The Bridge of Lions in St Augustine is said to be one of the prettiest bridges on the ICW.

We then started back on our southern trek and headed to Daytona.
Beautiful homes and many high rise ocean front condos - really looks like Florida now.

We met a couple at a wedding last spring who live on the ICW in Ormond Beach. They had offered to let us stay on their dock when we passed through. So, we called them up and made an attempt, but our boat draws too much water and it didn't work out.  Bummer.  Anchored out by one of the bridges in Daytona Beach.

Sun Nov 29-
Today was Florida weather- sunny and beautiful, spent the day in shorts! Came into Titusville, where you can see the Space Shuttle Assembly building from 20 miles away.

This is about 10 miles away - assembly building on right, launch pad on left.

Travelled through the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River- very picturesque. Saw white pelicans today. A friend of Bob's from work, Holly, and her husband read our blog and contacted us.  Holly and Jack winter on Merritt Island nearby where we spent the night.  They drove over to our marina and took us out to dinner at a local hangout called Dixieland Crossing.  A wonderful dinner and so nice to see them!  We will be stopping by on the return trip to visit with them again.

Bob, Holly, Carol then Jack L to R

Mon Dec 1-
We have been onboard 6 weeks now! Another beautiful day! We made our longest run, 73 miles, to Vero Beach.  There is a mooring field the city runs and is quite popular. They run out of mooring balls, so you raft up with other boats. Our neighbors were an English couple who have been cruising for years. Today we also were passed by a boat we met while cruising with cousins in Annapolis - a 65ft Hatteras with Graham and Michelle aboard.  What a small world. They are traveling to their new home on the gulf coast of Florida.  We had dinner aboard their boat, Sea Drive, and what a beautiful boat.  It actually had a regular sized kitchen and dishwasher. Luxurious! Graham and Michelle are friends of Carol's cousins.

A selfie of Bob, Michelle, Carol and Graham

We are noticing fewer marshes now and more mangrove shorelines with lots of fisherman.

This is a sight we are seeing everyday in Florida - no doubt victims of passed hurricanes.

Nov 23 to Nov 26 - Florida at last

Mon Nov 23
Headed south!  A lot of fog in the morning,

then severe thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon. We decided to head in early to a marina in Thunderbolt, GA.

Apparently native Americans saw a thunderbolt strike the earth and a fresh water spring erupted there giving the town its name.  Dave and Jacki on "Into the Mystic"from Rock Hall caught up to us here and we had a chance to catch up. The marina had a fancy grill and screened porch, so we hung out there waiting for the storms to pass.

Tues Nov 24
Today started out with a crazy moment as we were untying from the T-dock. Bob was on the dock untying lines and Carol on the boat.  The boat got swept up in the strong current and taken away from the dock. UhOh! Carol on the boat alone now, went out and did a loop, got back to the dock somehow without hitting the other boats.  Got close enough to the dock and Bob leapt onto the boat and off we went! Rain all day long!  Thank goodness for our enclosure.

Anchored in Crescent River, GA. Wind blew all night, so little sleep with worrying about dragging anchor. But, we did ok!

Wed Nov 25
Rain showers all morning, then finally the sky cleared at lunchtime. Hoorah! Sunshine! We arrived in Jekyll Island early afternoon and spent time riding the marina bikes on the wonderful bike trails all over the island.  What a beautiful place, with the beaches very rustic and wild.  Jekyll Island is where the ultra rich (names like Goodyear, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, etc) had their summer beach "cottages".  Their homes did not have kitchens and everyone ate in the dining hall.

This was their  modest dining hall….

Jekyll Island Atlantic beach

Thurs Nov 26
Happy Thanksgiving!  Sunny, very windy! We crossed over into Florida this morning! It was a hard day, with an ocean run leaving Jekyll Island and then running aground on an ICW shoaling spot.  We managed to get off the bottom by putting out the jib on this windy day and heeling the boat. Saw a lot of different types of birds.  Its interesting passing under the bridges, the birds are usually quite segregated, pelicans always on one side and a variety on the other, all lined up.  We are at the Jacksonville town dock for the night. Even though we are in Florida the temp tonite is going down to 38' - bummer!